Addressing graduating students at Hampton University, Virginia on the weekend, US President Barack Obama has spoken out on the challenges facing government in an information age, one dominated by "Xboxes and PlayStations".

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"You're coming of age in a 24/7 media environment that bombards us with all kinds of content and exposes us to all kinds of arguments, some of which don't always rank all that high on the truth meter," he said.

"With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, — none of which I know how to work — information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.

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"All of this is not only putting new pressures on you, it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy."

Interesting choice of devices there. I've always thought content was the important issue with news, not the delivery platform. It's not paper's fault if magazines suck.

Also interesting he goes out of his way to say he doesn't know how to "work" them; would it matter if he did know how to work them? I mean, it's not like a 360 or PlayStation is any harder to switch on than a Wii...